Far too few people understand the process through which bills must go. An even fewer number actually read the bills before they post or blog about them based only on something that someone else said.

Amy

“there seems to be a trend in our conservative circles to misrepresent the actual facts and promote a culture of fear”

I post about some of this at times.. like the fear abuzz about the freedom of choice act.. this stuff drives me crazy.

My last response was a general comment based on my own experience trying to engage folks via internet discussions. My apologies if it appeared accusatory, it certainly wasn’t my intention.

This sort of response happens to me often so perhaps it is best I go back to print media and face-to-face discussions.

I sincerely hope you don’t think this was the desired goal of my post. I do believe, however, that we can encourage one another toward love and good deeds, as the writer of Hebrews says. That was all I was hoping to accomplish here.

Phil, thanks for coming back to read! I think I would have to agree with your last sentence: I’m afraid there is a lack of integrity in the modern church just as in the rest of society. All too true, and sadly so, my brother.

Thank you for the link, what a mess. At least there appears to have been a debate, in the public domain, about some of the issues, which is encouraging.

I guess my further comment is that whenever we group behaviour under a particular label then individuality gets lost and it is easy to move into the realm of power, manipulation and coercion.

Should Christians eschew fear and misinformation? I’m not sure anymore that I can speak with any authority about group behaviour so I will pass on that one. Should I, as a person of faith, investigate the facts and base my response on truth, reason, compassion and humility? Most certainly, but each time it is a pesronal decision to do so. And I think this is what you are intimating in your entry above.

I believe that most powerful position I can take is in the area of personal decision making. I have little or no control over what others think. Much of the information flow within traditional Christendom is more in line with marketing and the harnessing of power through numbers. I just don’t believe that model is sustainable any more.

I just believe it is futile and counter-productive to mandate behaviour on the basis of a particular label.

Cameron, you wrote, When we oppose bad things for faulty reasons, we weaken our opposition to bad things over legitimate reasons. This is so well said! Thanks for your input.

ded, always glad to hear from you, brother. Miss you SO much! It’s good to have you reading here, and I’m glad your computer is doing well, too

Ian, I must admit that if we want to talk about the finer points of healthcare, I’m in way over my head here! Having said that, I’m trying to find links to the types of cases that I mentioned wherein studies were performed on unsuspecting subjects.

As to the illegality of such, of course, it’s illegal. However, the US Federal Govt deems itself above the law and does not always follow its own requirements.

I do understand that the paranoia isn’t limited to Christians. My point, however, was simply that it should not be so for Christians.

Also, our health system in many ways mirrors the US and the trend in acute care settings, for some time, is to get patients out of hospitals as fast as possible. I think your system works on prospective funding based on DRGs (i could be wrong here) where a facility is remunerated on the basis of a predetermined time period. Much of the cost for any “outliers” is funded by the institution itself rather than the health fund / federal health body. So there is a solid financial reason to restrict the behaviour you document. Bed block is a real problem in most hospitals so I just cannot see healthy, normal women held in hospital against their will.

But I take your point about the level of “dis”ease and paranoia around the issue. I would like to add that in my experience it isn’t just Christians per se who get caught up in this trend … perhaps politics is another area where views are polarized and fractious.